To Steal a Time Lord
by Captain Domino
Summary: Once, there was a Type 40 TARDIS who was incredibly bored and longed for adventure. She saw a Time Lord in her future who wanted adventure just as much as she, so she stole him and ran away. (TARDIS character study/"missing" scene. Oneshot.)


TARDISes could be pretty fickle. They had to like their owners, see – when you can travel through time and space, you have to be careful who you let control all of that power. Of course, there usually was no need to be careful; the Time Lords who used them usually had boring expeditions planned, which were usually to obtain some new information which the Time Lords would chart down, marking the planet as hostile or not, with an average population within a millennium during its prime, which species lived there, weather patterns, and countless other things which, at the end, would be neatly filed away and forgotten – unless the planet was marked as valuable, which usually meant that there was a strong possibility of more information to be gleaned which could be of at least some importance in the future, which, after being gathered, would also be filed away to gather dust.

One particular Type 40 TARDIS found all of this incredibly dull. So, one day (but it didn't really matter _which _day, because a TARDIS's timestream is incredibly, hugely vast and complicated, and it could really pick any day it wanted) it decided that it should no longer be of any use to the Time Lords. So it broke its own navigation system. (Yes, TARDISes can do that, don't be silly, of course they can.)

The TARDIS did this for two reasons. First was the reason just stated, and second, someone was coming to take it away. Someone different. Someone just as bored as the TARDIS. Someone who wanted adventure. A sizable chunk of the past – no, wait, the future – was dedicated to this man.

Both finally and suddenly, he was walking in, his eyes darting suspiciously about, perhaps checking to make sure there was no one there waiting to take him away. He stepped further in, and a young teenage girl followed him.

"-are you sure? This one, instead of-" the girl was saying, her voice very low.

"Yes, I do believe it's our best bet, Susan," said he, gripping his coat lapels nervously. "Now come along, child, quick, quick."

The girl, Susan, obeyed. The pair approached the console unit.

"Which one closes the doors, Grandfather?"

"Hmm, yes, let me see here-" He pulled a small book out of his coat and flipped through it. "I do hope there's a more thorough manual aboard…Ah. That one, right there. Try it and see how it works. No, wait, I'd better. Just to be on the safe side. Stand back."

Susan took three large steps back. The TARDIS felt a tiny thrill when the Doctor flipped one of her switches for the first time…Yes, this was the Doctor! That was what he would call himself. And she was a she! Yes, she was Old Girl. Sexy. Strange names, but this was no ordinary Time Lord. Yet at the same time, there was darkness. Death, destruction...No, wait, that was the future. Oh, but there was some now. Darkness, that is. A streak of selfishness, and more than a dash of egotism. Hmm, yes. That would need to be gotten rid of. She liked the Doctor already, quite a lot, but he would need to be taken down a notch or two before she would begin to reveal her secrets to him. And what fun that would be.

The doors swiftly closed in response to the switch. Susan began to laugh, clasping her hands together and bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"This is so exciting, Grandfather! This is the most exciting thing I've ever done!"

The Doctor gave a small chuckle. "Yes, I heartily agree. I must say, I'm rather surprised we've gotten this far!" He laughed more then, but Susan's smile faded.

"But we could still get caught. Shouldn't we go?"

"Oh, yes. Right you are. Let's see, now…" The Doctor flipped a few pages in the small manual. He began to experimentally flip levers and push buttons, and a small whirring noise emanated from the console, a whirring noise that, when one could come to know the TARDIS well enough, would easily be recognized as laughter.


End file.
